How to Make a Fondant Wedding Cake Part 1 | Beginner Tutorial
Chef Alan TetreaultIn this tutorial: What You'll Need · Sizing Your Cake · Slice, Fill, and Ice · Cover with Fondant · Stack with Dowels · Mold the Decorations · Attach Decorations
Think making your own wedding cake is out of reach? Chef Alan Tetreault of Global Sugar Art walks you through the entire process — from stacking tiers to molding elegant lace borders — and proves it's far more doable than most people think. This is Part 1 of a two-part series, covering everything from slicing and filling the cake through stacking, covering with fondant, and adding molded decorations.
📌 This is part of the Make Your Own Fondant Wedding Cake series: Part 1 – Covering & Stacking (you're here) · Part 2 – Finishing Touches
What You'll Need
- Three cakes — 12-inch, 9-inch, and 6-inch (already baked and cooled)
- Buttercream icing — for crumb coating and filling
- Fondant (such as Satin Ice) — for covering the tiers
- Gum paste or 50/50 gum paste-fondant mix — for molded decorations
- Cake boards — corrugated cardboard or foam boards, one per tier (same size as the cake)
- Poly dowel rods — half-inch for bottom tiers, quarter-inch for top tiers
- Rolling pin and fondant smoother
- Silicone molds:
- Karen Davies Alice Lace mold (wide + narrow ribbon)
- Karen Davies Piped Rose mold
- Global Sugar Art Rose Border mold
- Hem marker — for positioning decorations evenly
- Water brush or small paintbrush — for attaching decorations
- Scissors, sharp knife, and a serrated knife
- Pre-made sugar flowers — for the final arrangement (covered in Part 2)
Sizing Your Wedding Cake
Chef Alan's demo uses a 12-inch, 9-inch, and 6-inch three-tier cake. Here's how the sizing breaks down:
- The 12-inch and 9-inch tiers together feed about 100 people
- The 6-inch top tier is traditionally saved for the first anniversary
- Keep about 3 inches of difference between tier sizes
- You can scale up (16 → 13 → 10) or add a fourth tier using the same approach
Step 1: Slice, Fill, and Ice Each Tier
Start with your baked, cooled cakes. Each tier sits on a cake board the same size as the cake.
- Level the cakes using a long serrated knife — cut the dome off the top.
- Flip the cake so the flat bottom is now on top (this gives you a smoother surface).
- Apply a thin layer of buttercream between the two layers.
- Create a fondant dam — roll a thin rope of fondant and press it around the outer edge of the bottom layer. This keeps the filling from squishing out the sides.
- Add your filling inside the dam (Chef Alan uses raspberry).
- Place the second layer on top and ice the entire tier with a thin layer of buttercream.
💡 Ice right down to the board to seal the cake and prevent it from drying out. This doesn't need to be perfect — the fondant will cover everything.
Step 2: Cover with Fondant
After icing, refrigerate for about 1 hour (or freeze for 10–15 minutes) so the buttercream firms up.
↪ How to calculate fondant size
The diameter of your rolled fondant must equal the cake diameter + 4 inches per side. For a 12-inch cake: 12 + 8 = at least 20 inches of rolled fondant.
↪ Rolling and applying
- Knead the fondant until soft and pliable.
- Roll it out on a surface dusted with confectioner's sugar. Keep the fondant moving — don't let it stick. Once it gets larger, you can pull the rolling pin across it to stretch it.
- Drape it over the cake by rolling it loosely around the rolling pin, then unrolling it over the tier.
- Smooth the top first with a fondant smoother to push out air bubbles.
- Work down the sides with your hands, opening any folds and pressing the fondant against the buttercream.
- Trim the excess with scissors, then cut flush with the board using a knife.
- Smooth the edges with the palm of your hand to create a clean slope at the base.
💡 Air bubbles? Insert a straight pin into the bubble, then use the fondant smoother to push the air out through the tiny hole.
↪ Adding the fondant border strip
For a finished look at the base of each tier, roll fondant into a flat strip, cut one straight edge, roll it up loosely, and unroll it around the base of the cake. Press the seam together at the back and trim flush with the board.
Step 3: Stack the Tiers with Dowel Rods
This is the structural step that keeps your cake from leaning or collapsing.
- Mark the front and back — put a toothpick in the foam board to mark the back of the cake.
- Position the next tier's circle on top of the cake where you want it. Chef Alan offsets his tiers toward the back for a modern look.
- Mark where the dowels will go — you need at least 4 dowels per tier (6–8 for very large cakes).
- Cut the poly dowels to the exact height of the tier using heavy scissors or pruning shears.
- Push the dowels straight down through the fondant and into the cake until they rest on the bottom board.
- Stack the next tier — the weight transfers from the cake board, through the dowels, down to the board below. No pressure on the actual cake.
💡 Chef Alan's take on center dowels: Some decorators drive a single long dowel rod down through the center of the entire cake. Chef Alan considers this unnecessary — with proper dowel support in each tier, he's built 6, 7, and 8-tier wedding cakes that never fell over.
↪ Bottom board recommendation
For a 3–4 tier cake, use a half-inch wooden (masonite) board as the base, covered with decorative foil. This gives you a sturdy surface for transporting the cake safely.
Step 4: Mold the Decorations
This is where the cake goes from plain to stunning — and no piping skills are required. Chef Alan uses three silicone molds to create all the decorative elements.
↪ Working with gum paste vs. 50/50 mix
- 100% gum paste hardens on the cake — you'll have to cut through it when serving
- 50/50 gum paste + fondant stays soft enough to cut through, but can be trickier to work with as a beginner
↪ How to fill a mold
- Lightly dust the mold with cornstarch using a puff — then dump the excess out.
- Roll a rope of paste and lay it into the mold, following the contours.
- Press it in with greased fingers (use a thin layer of Crisco), pushing from the edges toward the center.
- Cut the excess using a palette knife with a tiny bit of shortening — always start cutting from the center, not the edge, to avoid pulling paste out of the mold.
- Press everything flush and roll over the back to make it flat.
- Unmold — if the paste is too soft, pop the mold in the freezer for 3–5 minutes first.
↪ The three decoration layers
- Narrow lace ribbon (Alice Lace mold) → top tier border
- Wide lace ribbon (Alice Lace mold) → bottom tier border
- Piped rose border (Karen Davies mold) → mid-tier accent
- Small rose border (GSA Rose Border mold) → base border on each tier
Step 5: Attach Decorations to the Cake
↪ Positioning
Use a hem marker to make tiny guide marks on the cake so your decorations sit at a consistent height all the way around.
↪ Attaching
- Flip the molded piece over and brush the back lightly with water — just damp, not wet.
- Start at the front of the cake so any seams end up at the back.
- Press gently to adhere the piece to the fondant.
- Join pieces by pressing the edges together — from a distance at a reception, the seams are invisible.
💡 Karen Davies' piped rose mold is designed so the pieces interlock end-to-end — you genuinely can't see where one piece ends and the next begins.
↪ For delicate pieces (like the small GSA rose border)
Instead of wetting the back of the molded piece, brush a thin line of water (⅛ to ¼ inch) directly up the side of the cake, then press the piece into place. This gives you more control with fragile decorations.
What's Next: Part 2
With all the borders and lace in place, the cake is ready for its finishing touches — pearlizing the molded details to make them pop, adding a ribbon at the base, and arranging pre-made sugar flowers. That's all covered in Part 2.
This tutorial is part of Global Sugar Art's library of free cake decorating videos by Chef Alan Tetreault. Browse all tutorials →
